


Love's far away, but we're moving closer

by binlar_lover



Category: Shadowhunters (TV), The Mortal Instruments Series - Cassandra Clare
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, F/M, Fluff, Soulmate-Identifying Marks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-15
Updated: 2017-08-15
Packaged: 2018-12-15 13:34:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,928
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11807013
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/binlar_lover/pseuds/binlar_lover
Summary: Clary and Jace as they fall in love without knowing they are soulmates.





	Love's far away, but we're moving closer

**Author's Note:**

> This is my work for bisexualsmagnus on tumblr.  
> I had loads of fun writing this and watching this two oblivious dorks falling in love. I hope you guys enjoy it too.  
> Title is from I'll wait for you, by Moriah Peters.

This time is permanent they tell him. Is kind of hard to believe, he has spent the last six years of his life with the Lightwoods, he had never seen so many different cities and states in his life. They finally found a laboratory they want to settle down in, they want to finally give them a place to call home.

They go through their whole new kids routine on Monday, at this point it feels like second nature, just like going through classes even if he already knows what the teachers are talking about, having researchers for parents has its perks.

When it’s lunch time he goes to find Izzy, being the most sociable of the four of them, she’s sitting with a redhead girl. He goes to their table and just sits beside her, the girl eyes him but says nothing; Alec joins them a few minutes later. The girl seems legit weirded out now, and it finally hits Jace that now that they are not leaving anymore, he will probably need his own friends instead of just hanging out with the ones Izzy makes. He and Alec probably seem two weirdos that spend their lunches with their sister instead of making friends.

“Hey, I finally found you,” A guy with glasses says touching the girl’s shoulder.

“This is Simon, my best friend,” she says to the three of them, “Simon this is Izzy, she’s new here, met her at biology class and she’s a genius at it”

“I’m glad you’re not failing it now that I’m in other class” he laughs and sits on the space she has left for him. “And who are they?” he questions pointing at Alec and him.

“These are my brothers, Alec and Jace. They are not very friendly” she says as a way of explaining their presence.

They stay silent for a while, the awkward kind of silence filling the table.

“I’m sorry if this is too personal, but doesn’t it feel weird?” the redhead, that he still doesn’t know the name asks Izzy.

“With what?” she questions confused.

“With your name” she clarifies, pointing at the brunet shoulder where her soulmates name is written in a pretty cursive letter.

“Is there something to feel weird about? Almost everybody has them” Izzy responds, shrugging.

“I don’t know, I just think they are something personal, something special between you and your soulmate” she tries to explain while biting her lower lip. Like touching the subject evokes some kind of magic, she starts rubbing her ribs, Alec starts pulling at his long sleeved t-shirt and the boy, Simon, stares at his lap.

“I belong to someone, I want everybody to know that,” Izzy says smiling, “But I understand what you’re saying. Knowing someone it’s your soulmate it’s probably a feeling you want to share only with that person”

There’s a silence that hangs in the table, is not necessarily awkward, but it’s not a good silence either.

“I think you’re very brave for putting yourself out there like this,” The redhead says smiling softly at Izzy, he can tell they are going to be very good friends.

“Hey,” he calls and everyone looks at him “I still don’t know your name”

“I’m Clary” she responds.

XXX

As much as soulmates are almost a part of every person in existence, it’s also pretty much inexistent in conversations. People don’t talk about the name attached to their skin, he has never seen Alec soulmates name, even though he knows where it is written. People don’t talk about the wait, or the anxiety, he can see how Izzy craves for finding her soulmate, and how she hides that by baring her name to everyone to see. People don’t talk about the longing, about the somewhat emptiness that exists around them, but he found Clary absentminded rubbing her ribs, just like in that first day, with a distant look on her face. It’s something incredibly present, but lacking at the same time.

And apparently it’s not always something desirable, Simon teaches him that. They are at their house, Izzy is way too excited about her quinceñera, so she’s already making the list of friends she wants to invite.

“Any of you need extra invitations?” Izzy asks with the guest's list in her hands.

“My parents are already invited, so not really,” Clary says, and Jace is once again jealous of how she says it so easily, he still calls Maryse and Robert by their names. There’s only silence after that, but Jace can see Clary pointedly staring at Simon like she wants him to admit a crime or something. He just shakes his head and she sighs.

“What was that?” Izzy questions.

“Nothing,” Clary says, but she’s clearly torn about it.

“It didn’t seem like nothing” the brunet insists.

“Clary wants me to invite my soulmate to your party” at his statement even Alec that was busy with his college applications stops to look at Simon.

“Your what?” Izzy asks clearly shocked.

“My soulmate” He repeats avoiding everybody eyes, Clary grabs one of his hands.

“We have known each other for four months and you didn’t think of mentioning that?”

“It’s kind of complicated,” he says “We met and the beginning of the year, they were back at school, to get a document or something. I was there because they got my middle name written wrong.”

“They are a college student?” Jace asks.

“Yeah, they entered last year”

“Why you don’t want to invite them?”

“I didn’t expect to meet them so soon. I wanted to know who I was before I had a soulmate, I don’t want my entire personality to be based on the fact that I have this other person by my side, and they are supposed to be there forever.”

“ It doesn't have to be,” Alec says, and they turn to him, Alec as the oldest of them usually keeps to himself, he also doesn’t seem to like Simon that much, so they are all surprised “Soulmates don’t have to be the people you fall in love with. They are just people who are meant to be in your life, people you need to meet, whether, for a few moments or the rest of your life, whether platonic or romantic, it doesn’t matter. It’s just someone that needs to touch your life for some reason.”

“Thanks, Alec,” Simon says a small smile on.

“I hope it turns out fine,” Izzy says joining Clary and Simon on the floor, she grabs his other hand and they just stand there hand in hand for a long time.

XXX

Clary is doing the rib thing again, they are all studying for the upcoming tests, but he has given up on studying like half an hour a go. So he finally makes the question that’s been bothering him.

“Does it itch?”

“What?” she says taking her attention from her books to look at him.

“Does it itch?” he asks “Your soul mark, you touch it a lot.”

“I don’t know?” she laughs at herself “It’s been feeling weird for a while now, it’s not an itchy exactly, it just feels kind of warm. I don’t really know how to explain.”

“Maybe that means you going to meet your soulmate soon,” Izzy says excitedly.

“Maybe” Clary agrees, and he feels uncomfortable for some reason, like the fact that Clary may find her soulmate upsets him.

XXX

Maybe it’s the hair. Jace tells himself as he keeps finding Clary in every single crowded space he’s in. It’s like he can’t keep his eyes away from her. Jace has made some friends from his year, but he feels like he just can’t let Clary go. It’s clearly a problem, he’s just not sure why.

XXX

Izzy’s party is finally upon them and Jace has this nervous energy buzzing just under the surface, he has no idea why and it makes him even more nervous.

“Are you okay?” a voice asks interrupting his pacing; he turns to find Clary by the stairs.

“Wow” is all he can say, she’s wearing a short dark blue dress, that he vaguely remembers belonging to Izzy, but right now he couldn’t care less.

“I tried leaving the room with more clothing on, but Izzy wouldn’t let me”

“I should thank her later then,” He says before he can think better of it, he just stands there and watches as Clary’s eyes go wide with surprise. They just stay there staring at each other and frozen in place until they hear a noise at the top of the stairs, it’s Alec that eye their blushing cheeks suspiciously.

The car ride to where the party is being held is slightly uncomfortable for both of them, they can’t look at each other without blushing. But nobody seems to notice because Izzy’s talking a mile a minute in her excitement.

He might cry at Maryse and Robert speeches. Alec refused to make a speech, so his only line is ‘I love you and I’m very proud of you’. He might cry when is his turn to talk too, but nobody needs to know. He just loves this family very very much.

When everything is said and done, he notices Clary is gone, because of course, he does. It doesn’t have to mean anything. He finds her in the small garden just outside the place where the party is happening. There are a few other people here, but they are older than them, probably looking for a quieter place.

“Everything okay?” He asks when he’s close enough to the bench she sited on, she raises her head whipping at the corner of her eyes, being mindful of her make up.

“It was all very pretty,” she says as an answer, but he knows there is more than that.

“Yeah?”  he sits beside her.

“It just occurred to me that if I ever decide to make a party, Dad won’t be here to make a speech”

Jace doesn’t know the whole story because they are still growing comfortable with each other. What he does know is that Clary’s dad died a few years ago, he was Luke and her mom’s soulmates and was called Valentine, they have his tattoo just peeking out from their t-shirt collars.

“You still have your mom and Luke” he reminds her.

“I’m sorry, this all probably sounds very childish compared to what you had to get through, I did get to have 3 parents at the end”

“You’re the only one that can feel your pain Clary, it’s not a competition if it hurts, it hurts. You don’t have to compare to me, you’re allowed to be sad, you’re allowed to miss him” He says, because he had this conversation before, Izzy and Alec had felt the same at some point in their life together, like they didn’t get to feel sadness or pain, because close to Jace’s historic it was nothing. He finally looks back at her and almost regrets saying anything because her eyes are teary again. But she leans her head against his shoulder and he gets to put his arm around her.

They stay there for long and quiet minutes, it feels amazing and it’s the closest he probably has ever been of her. He never wants to let go.

XXX

“Hey Jace” she calls him on a Monday right before lunch, he lets the boys go before him, and follow her to more calm place.

“What happened?”

“Nothing, I promise, I just wanted to thank you, for what you said at Izzy’s party”

“It was nothing, I like being useful,” he says, only half joking. Clary bites her lips and nervously looks around, she put both hands on his shoulder to push him down, they lips meet in between. It’s sweet and only long enough for Jace to register it, but not enough for him to react.

“Thanks, Jace,” she says before turning around with red cheeks, he is left behind dumb folded.

XXX

After the kiss, Jace kind of feels consumed by Clary. He’s always looking for her, always wants to be close to her, and is always thinking about her. And it seems like the same goes to Clary since they always seem to end up tangled together these days.

Alec eyes them suspiciously at movie night when Clary is cuddled at his side like is second nature. Luke barely blinks when he finds him in his living room braiding Clary’s hair. Max is disgusted to discover they holding hands under the table while doing homework. Simon just raises an eyebrow at them when he finds them sharing the same chair. Izzy is unsurprised on finding them cuddling on his bed when Clary was supposed to be sleeping in her room.

“Just date her already,” she tells him after that particular incident.

XXX

It’s a fight that ends up making things happen. Boys can be fairly stupid, he would know, he is one of them, and this particular one had a very colorful choice of words about his sister. He deserved to be punched; it was not Jace’s fault. Thank God he had a witness.

Clary is sitting by his side holding the ice pack to his now bruising eye.

“Jonathan!” Maryse calls by the end of the of the hall and Jace flinches, she was probably in the middle of something important when the school called, he’s getting in so much trouble. He turns to thank Clary but she’s not looking at him, she is looking all worried to the floor

XXX

Jace is officially grounded in his room for four hours when it happens. His door is slammed open and Clary is standing there a kind of furious look on her face. She takes her time to close the door and then marches to end of his bed, standing by it.

“You are such an idiot,” she says, he thinks she talking about earlier “I have a fault on this too. But You? You were raised by geniuses, my nick name is Clary, Luke pet name for me is fairy, you probably have seen him shirtless when went swimming, and you just couldn’t figure it out”

 “Clary?” he asks worriedly because she’s screaming at him, but she’s also unbuttoning her shirt, and he’s not quite sure where to look at. Her face he decides since she stopped screaming.

“Jace,” she says in the most serious tone he ever heard her use, he thinks he’s screwed.

“What?” he asks

“I want you to be honest with me, how do you feel about me?” he stares at her, he doesn’t know what is bringing this on.

“I like you” he confesses.

“I’m going to need more than that Jace,” she says getting closer to him.

“I- I don’t know Clary, it’s just consuming,” he says, “I want to be around you all the time and is like I can’t get enough of you. It’s like I’m drawn to you like I couldn’t get away even if I wanted to”

She sights and let her shirt slide from her body, there’s a lot of skin, he knows he’s blushing, there’s way too much inside of him. But It covers her entire rib cage, his name, in his bad cursive writing.

“Jonathan Christopher Wayland” she whispers, and he has the urge to touch her, so he does it, touches the name that bonds them to each other. He doesn’t say anything, doesn’t think he can.

“Kiss me” she demands, and he does it, doesn’t know how to resist the tug in his chest that brings him to her.

Their lips meet and he feels like every vein in his body is filled with electricity, like each one of this currents leads to her, like she’s the battery he needs to keep on living. And suddenly he understands why after years and years, Robert still looks at Maryse like she’s the best thing that ever happened to him, he understands why Luke and Jocelyn still grieve for the third part they lost, he understands why Simon was so nervous.

This girl right in front of him, with closed eyes and uneven breathing, messed hair and half naked, it’s his forever. He went through sixteen years of his life to find this one person, the one person that will stick to him; that will be there every moment of the rest of the way. It’s a thought both comforting and terrifying.

“I love you” she whispers and opens her eyes.

“I love you” he whispers back. He pulls her until they lay down on the bed and he can cover them both, he’s not going to let her go, not so soon.

XXX

They are both awake but neither of them wants to move, so they just stay there entwined with one another.

“Hey” she calls him, he hums in response “Where do you keep me?”

“Close to the heart”, he says smiling.

“I’m serious,” she says

“So am I,” He says detangling himself from her. He sits up while she keeps staring at him lying down, he takes his shirt off and there it is, on the left side of his chest, right above his heart is her name, in a way better cursive letter than his.

“Clarissa Fairchild” he murmurs to her.

“We are both idiots,” she says pulling him back to bed “We’ve known each other this whole time, how could we not know?”

“I think we’ve felt it” he murmurs into her hair.

“Yeah, maybe we did”

**Author's Note:**

> I'm kind of obsessed about soulmates au, so whenever I'm given the chance I end up writing them. My plans for the future are making a soulmate au for every otp of mine.  
> I hope you enjoyed it and that you have a very good day. I'm binlar-lover on tumblr, in case you want to find me.


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